Avanti Design Notes

Aside from the ready racks literally lining the inside of the turret armor? (Rounds were mounted vertically.)

There is British evaluation of the M13 that recommends several features for incorporation into British tank designs (none were ever used, to my knowledge). The single worst feature found was that the hearing of the elevation wheel for the gun was so coarse that accurate range adjustment was impossible. Combined with generally poor gunnery training, this was an overwhelming handicap.

As I've been helping with the design of a game in Bir el Gubi, and I've been researching and translating works on Beda Fomm, I've discovered that there are significant distortions in much of the recent English-language publications on North Africa from Italian sources. While Italian accounts were either ignored or unavailable in the past, recent work fails to check Italian accounts against Allied sources for simple facts (what units were engaged--just looking up where they were in given days--and loss reports). Uncritical acceptance of one side's story is never useful, as better understanding of German tank loss reporting procedures has shown.

Areas of Interest

With their equipment outclassed by the enemy's, the Italian soldier had no choice but to substitute bravery for technology. Despite British propaganda that painted the Italians as cowardly and easily defeated, the Italians fought well and bravely, and won many victories that were attributed to the Germans (and were even blamed for German defeats that they had no part in!). Avanti reflects this in the way the Italians are portrayed.

The two characteristic special rules for the Italians are Avanti and Determined. Avanti allows Italian troops to more easily pass "Follow Me" tests to move faster, modelling their doctrine of rapid movement to contact, followed by heavy localized firepower and assaults to overcome resistance. Determined makes their infantry more likely to rally, and their tanks more likely to Remount (made even more likely by the clever and well-protected ammunition stowage of their tanks and SP guns). The Italians can be relied on to fight hard for as long as they can.